user experience

From a design and development standpoint, user experience is the applied practice of making technology accessible. From an end-user's standpoint, user experience determines how well elements such as layout, graphics, feature hierarchy and navigation combine to make a technology usable and painless.

As with any design practice applied to technology, user experience is a blend of both science and art. While drawing on scientific principles from the fields of cognitive psychology and human computer interaction, the creation of a positive user experiences requires both empathy and aesthetic sensibilities.

As technology becomes increasingly complex, so does the application of good user experience practices become more vital. Apple's continued success in the marketplace serves as an example that success need not hinge on superior hardware, but on the ability to imbue complex technologies with positive, personally rewarding user experiences.

User experience is also a major factor in the blogging and social media spheres: as the quantity, variety and interconnectedness of information increases, so does the importance of good user experience design in making said information more easily accessible. As information sharing becomes increasingly commoditized, the user experience of an online service can become its key differentiator.

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Latest blogosphere posts tagged “user experience”

• When the Mayor Can’t be Found

  
  SensoryMetrics — Authority: 122
  Plurk This Post Buzz This Post Facebook
  7 hours ago

• Microsoft: Silverlight will a oeOptimize Everywherea

  
  Linux/Unix News - motd.ambians.com — Authority: 165
  Microsoft wants Silverlight to be optimized for every platform that it runs on, said Brian Goldfarb, director of developer and user experience platforms at Microsoft, during an interview at the companys Professional Developers Conference on Wednesday .
  7 hours ago

• Typographic howlers

  
  CyberText Newsletter — Authority: 129
  We’ve all heard of or seen the bloopers and technology howlers in movies (like the guy wearing a watch in a chariot scene from Ben Hur). In fact, there are TV shows, websites, blogs etc. dedicated to the science and technology portrayed in movies and how correct (or not) they are compared to real life. Movie ...
  10 hours ago

• Will consumers plug into home energy displays?

  
  Putting people first — Authority: 433
  Dozens of home energy monitors are coming to market, but nobody knows whether only hybrid Prius owners will use them. Martin LaMonica reports on CNet News. “The gadgets themselves vary, but the common thread among them is the ability to capture a stream of energy information from a meter at a given moment. Simply ...
  1 day ago

• User-driven innovation in Denmark – an update

  
  Putting people first — Authority: 433
  Some English language websites, blogs, articles and publications updating on what Denmark is doing on user-driven innovation: Is Denmark a lead user of user driven innovation? You might think so since the world’s first government sponsored user driven innovation program is to be found in Denmark. The program ...
  1 day ago

• Warning dialog if you are about to leave a Report with unsaved changes!!

  
  Salesforce IdeaExchange — Authority: 132
  All too frequently I modify the configuration of an existing Salesforce.com Report in the web interface, run the report, and then forget that Ive made changes to the configuration and browse away, losing all those changes. It would be superb if there was a warning dialog that popped up if a user tried to navigate ...
  2 days ago

• What is it about time pickers?

  
  CyberText Newsletter — Authority: 129
  I’ve come across a couple of ‘interesting’ time pickers recently. I don’t know the best solution for one of these widgets, but I’m pretty sure none of the ones below are it. Of course, one of the dilemmas with a time picker is catering for users familiar with either analog and digital time displays (or ...
  2 days ago

• Live Blog: The Google Chrome OS Press Event

  
  Family Learning Center — Authority: 161
  [IMG: http://www.family-learning-center.com/wp-content/plugins/wp-o-matic/cache/4f571_chrome_logo_may09.jpg]
  2 days ago

• Registry Cleaner Optimizes The Personal Computer

  
  sherrill brown recommends — Authority: 139
  The most common issue faced by any personal computer user is regarding slow performance or frequent crashing down of applications, despite having latest antivirus software. These issues are more predominant on computers running Microsoft Windows as the operating system and most of these problems are due to entries in ...
  2 days ago

• How understanding the human mind might save the world from CO2

  
  Putting people first — Authority: 433
  What will solve climate change? Will it be technology? Policy? A growing number of researchers and activists say it’s what’s behind it all: people. And understanding them is vital to addressing climate change, argues Annie Jia of ClimateWire in The New York Times. “Participants at the three-day third annual ...
  2 days ago

• Opening up Another Time Capsule: Community Visit in Hamburg

  
  GullFOSS — Authority: 423
  As Christoph Noack opened a time capsule , let me do the same. Mine goes back 2 months to Sept 17/18/19 when specially invited members of the German-language OpenOffice.org community came to Hamburg. The visitors pictured above, plus me and Marcus Lange from Sun who joined the photo, were (l to r): Marcus Lange, ...
  2 days ago

• EU ministers: accessible, interactive and customised online public services in Europe by 2015

  
  Putting people first — Authority: 433
  EU press release ( link ): EU ministers have committed to developing smarter online public services for citizens and businesses by 2015. The Commission has welcomed this step forward in making eGovernment more accessible, interactive and customised. At the fifth Ministerial eGovernment Conference in Malmö (Sweden) ...
  2 days ago

• Android Confusion and $25 Smartphones

  
  Internet2Go - An Opus Research Advisory Service - — Authority: 137
  As I tweeted earlier, Amazon is (presumably for a limited time) selling a $25 Pixi with a two year service contract and an $80 Pre . This follows Best Buys decision to put both Sprint Android phones on sale for $99 (Moment and Hero). read more
  2 days ago

• Flook: StumbleUpon for the Real World

  
  Internet2Go - An Opus Research Advisory Service - — Authority: 137
  This morning Flook became available in the iTunes store. Calling itself the "worlds first location browser" it reminds me of a version of what Socialight was trying to do at one time: use community to enable people to use mobile devices to discover whats interesting or going on "right here." The following discussion ...
  2 days ago

• Good karma: an in-depth review of Ubuntu 9.10

  
  Family Learning Center — Authority: 161
  [IMG: http://www.family-learning-center.com/wp-content/plugins/wp-o-matic/cache/d2b55_ubuntu-logo-thumb-230x130-8629-f.jpg]
  2 days ago

• Walk the walk. Or don’t talk the talk.

  
  Sharpenr — Authority: 410
  A large number of companies claim that they listen to their customers and adapt their service or product accordingly. Usually this is, in my personal opinion, complete BS. If company X claims that my feedback helps them run their business, shouldn’t they – as a logical next step – make it even easier for me to ...
  3 days ago

• The Social Economy

  
  One Mann's Opinion — Authority: 415
  Imagine the Internet is your investment portfolio. There are an estimated 1.7 billion people online. That’s one quarter of the world’s population. There are over 400 million in Asia with Internet access and three quarters of North Americans are online. Were Rich! Were Rich! The number of people on the ...
  3 days ago

• Ergonomics researchers says Text Messaging can be a pain in the neck

  
  WirelessDuniya — Authority: 127
  Ergonomics researchers are starting to wonder whether text messaging is putting the younger generation at risk for some overuse injuries — once reserved for older adults who have spent years in front of a computer. Science Daily reports. At this year’s annual meeting of the American Public Health Association, ...
  3 days ago

• Check If Your Website is Mobile Friendly With W3C mobileOK Checker

  
  Technofriends — Authority: 141
  Mobile traffic has been increasing on the internet and its becoming even more important for a website to have a friendly mobile interface as well. The common practice employed by most of the websites is to have a seperate mobile domain and redirect all the traffic coming from Mobile devices to the mobile subdomain. ...
  3 days ago

• Product labels: 2

  
  CyberText Newsletter — Authority: 129
  I ranted a bit about the labeling on a tube of bath gel the other day. Today it’s the turn of labeling masquerading as marketing spin. Or is it marketing spin masquerading as product labeling? Bring on the shampoo! You’re standing in a supermarket aisle, looking at the vast array of shampoos. How do you ...
  3 days ago

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